The Golden Ratio: Perfection in Your Body Shape

One of the coolest, and exasperating, things about SL is that you can create a body that suits your self-image. The combinations are endless. And often disastrous.

You know when a particular shape doesn’t work. Something in you says: that’s not right. But what is it that triggers the response? Almost certainly it is because you are seeing something that lacks proportionality. “It’s off” and when you see that our brains are “hard wired” to respond negatively.

This isn’t Cindy’s opinion. Study after study has shown that human beings are programmed to respond to out of kilter proportions with discomfort…and to respond positively when it’s all “right.”

But what is “right”? The ancient Greeks knew. So did the portrait artists and sculptors of the Renaissance. They discovered that the “ideal” proportions of the human body are almost entirely based on a deceptively simple “Golden Ratio” or “Golden Section”…also known as Phi. For you math lovers, the ratio is 1 to 1.618, references found here). Another way to think about this is to draw a line that is 1 meter long. Divide it in two with the short section being .38 meter and the long section being .62 meter.

Objects, including the human body, specifically the location and size of things like the distance between the head and base of the neck, torso length compared to body height, that have this ratio incorporated will look balanced and proportional. Why? Who knows? But there is little doubt, and lots of research to prove it, that when you see a building that uses this ratio in its design, or a sculpture, or a living person whose body and face conform to this ratio, it will look “right”, pleasing.

Sound a little odd? Ask a friend who went to art school. If you went to yourself, you already know about the Golden Ratio.

So how does this apply to SL? Well, how is a shape actually constructed here? With sliders that are all based on numbers, right? Unlike the real world, you can use them to make a “perfect” shape…but its not easy and even the top shape makers, who are very good, often miss the mark.

I’ll state right here, so there’s no misunderstandings, that I’ve create a tool and a technique that will produce “classic” proportions in an SL avi. I do, and have done, many many consultations and it does work. Yes, I charge a fee, but it’s far less then the cost of a typical decent booby girl outfit.

If that doesn’t put you off, I’ll explain the theory and how I’ve come to create my Golden Ratio system…

The Basics

This ratio, as applied to SL, determines the “ideal” relative relationship between overall height and such things as neck height and width, arm length, head size, waist and hip location, torso length,etc.

Here is a simple example in this famous sculpture. In it, a critical golden ratio was deployed by Michaelangelo: the proportion of length between the torso and lower body.

Notice how the distance from his navel to the top of his head is 38% and his lower body is 62%. But that’s only the beginning. This ratio comes into play all over that sculputure.

So ok, big deal. You don’t want to look like David. You want an “ideal” body in SL! WITH big boobies! How? Read on to find out….

But here’s a little hint: Take a good close look at your torso and your lower body. Most avis in SL don’t conform to even this very very simple torso to lower body ratio. That’s why so many have overlong legs…but let’s see how to fix that.

Techyish Stuff: The Details

As mentioned above, golden ratios, like the simple one in “David” can be found all over the “ideal” human body. We’ll start with a male image, showing many of them:

According to the author of this chart:
The white line is the body’s height. The blue line, a golden section of the white line, defines the distance from the head to the finger tips. The yellow line, a golden section of the blue line, defines the distance from the head to the navel and the elbows.
The green line, a golden section of the yellow line, defines the distance from the head to the pectorals and inside top of the arms, the width of the shoulders, the length of the forearm and the shin bone.

Now, for sure, what may be a “perfect” body isn’t necessarily what one might consider an “ideal” body today. And you almost certaintly don’t want to look like a man. However, the essential proportions that are seen in the male body above and those for women are the same. A too short torso is going to look bad in both a male and female AVI.

But what about the boobs, waist, hips, and butt. Surely they are different? Well yes the circumference of these body parts are indeed different. But their relative locations and “balance” between where these parts of the anatomy are is not significantly different.

One MAJOR difference between male and female, obviously, is waist to hip ratio. For women, a waist that is between 66 and 75% of hip size is considered “ideal”: divide 24 (waist) by 36 (hips) and you’ll see what I mean. Fashion models (and men for that matter) approach 80% waist to hip (skinny bitches..and that’s why they look like boys!). But other then that, the golden ratio continues to define commonly accepted notions of the “ideal”.

Here are three pictures of me. I’m only showing a 38% to 62 percent torso-lower body ratio here (believe me, you DON’T want to see how I started out!), but there is more to observe…

The one on the far left is with a modified shape I purchased in which I corrected my torso-lower body (I didn’t include the ORIGINAL shape I bought to spare the vendor embarassment). My waist to hips is about 74%, a more narrowed look emphasized by a minimal amount of body fat…so I’m a bit on the skinny side in that one.

The second is me with a 67% waist-to-hip ratio with the rest of my body set up using the “Golden Ratio.” The one on the far right is me with a 70% waist to hip, still set up for Golden Ratio proportions (click picture for a larger view):

At first they all look pretty similar, don’t they? But look closer at the center and far right. Arms, hips, shoulders. The far right is a bit too strong for my personal tastes, so I use the center shape. I made those corrections using Golden Ratios, based on a the special tool I created.

You might ask this question upon seeing these…Why do I look skinnier overall (not just in the hips) in the image with a 74% WHR (left) compared to the one with the 70% WHR (right)?

The reason is the SL slider system wihich does NOT permit direct manipulation of the waist size. It can be changed, but a lot of factors, including overall height and body fat affect it…I wanted to stay the same height so I added some body fat to get to 70%. This is one example of why relying on SL sliders alone may not give the best results…you need much more than that.

So What???

So what does all this mean in SL, and most particularly for the big booby girl community?

A number of things actually:

A. Your boob position, unlike in “regular” avis is moveable. And lots of girls get into trouble with that. There is a very specific place on the chest where they will look their best based on your height, neck length and navel location. Where the nipples fall makes a huge difference in overall appearance.

B. What about boob SIZE? Well that’s up to you. But keep in mind that extremely big boobs (say over 2100 cc) will end up lower on the body. Compensating by angling upward, which many try to do, won’t really help because they’ll look unnatural. If you want a superbig look, that’s your call. I’m just saying that if an “ideal” shape is your goal that will be hard to do if you go bigger than 2100 cc for everyday life.

C. How about a big butt? Well, some do this to compensate for overlarge boobs or they just like that. Which is fine. But increasing butt size does significantly impact your hip to waist ratio.

A Tool For Achieving the “Ideal”

There is no question, that having the best, most natural body possible for your height and personal tastes is possible with the SL appearance sliders. But it’s very difficult to truly get it right…and involves a lot of guesswork. You can buy a “fixed” shape and most are quite good, but I’ve also discovered that most also have problems in quite specific areas.

And anyone who has messed with the SL sliders at all knows that a “small” tweak in one place has implications every where. Widen the hips incorrectly and suddenly you’ve got no thighs. Add a bit of body fat (or more often, cut it) and your arms look weird. It’s guesswork at best. Not to mention frustrating.

One Solution: My Golden Ratio invention. Used properly it will visually show you your ideal Golden Ratio proportions based on your height. Whether or not you choose to use those proportions is up to you. I can say that I’ve done a great deal of Beta testing and without exception, small tweaks or large, the women who I’ve worked with come out of a consultation saying they look much more natural. Because they DID look more natural! And you don’t have to be skinny either. These proportions work whether you like the Twiggy look (to a point!) or a voluptuous babe who stepped out of a Reubens painting.

Several of my beta testers have asked about buying this tool. Unfortunately, I can’t do that because it can too easily be copied and stolen. As I mentioned at the top, I am however, doing consultations and they are extremely reasonable.

What is Involved?

Both Booby girls and “regular girls” have been thru my testing and consultations. The only thing you need is a modifiable shape. You will NEVER lose that original shape version. I make certain of that. We talk and we decide what you’re look is. It’s probably very close to what you have right now.

We begin by getting your exact height. From there we look at the “correct” proportions for your stature like, for example, your leg length versus your torso length, your neck size, and your arms. Your head size compared to your body size, and on and on and on. We go carefully and deliberately and after each adjustment you decide whether you want to go further.

Here’s what I don’t do: I don’t mess with facial features. Nor do I mess around with boob size, though we can discuss location if you’re a big booby girl.

Here is a photo of a client. “Before” is on the left.

Again, at first glance, not much is changed. But look closer. This girl had a very nice shape to begin with. But notice the arms and the hips. Her legs have a tiny bit more “heft” too.

I don’t have permission to show images of clients who came to me with very substantial problems. They weren’t newbies. Legs were too long, or neck too short, shoulders too strong (or weak). Many issues. All correctable!

If you’re interested, or just curious. Drop me a line. You can reach me at Cindy Melgund in-world.

My biggest complaint about people’s body size in sl, besides generic twig girls, is the obsession with turning height way higher than it should! I try and keep to a natural height, which is still taller than I would like but otherwise I look like a midget in comparison! Even at 5’9, in sl I’m tiny 😛

I HAVE BEEN DOING SOME CARVING AND NOW WANT TO CARVE A LIFE SIZE STATUE OF A WELL BUILT NUDE FEMALE. I HAD A MODEL WHO IS 64″ TALL. SHE IS WEARING 3″ HEELS MAKING A TOTAL HEIGHT OF 67″ TALL . I PHOTOGRAPHED HER FULL LENGTH AND ALSO IN 7 SEGEMENTS. SHE NO LONGER IS AVAILABLE AND I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH DISTORTION AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE. IDEALLY WHAT SHOULD THE MEASUREMENTS BE FOR CHIN TO FLOOR , NIPPLES TO FLOOR, NAVEL TO FLOOR , CROTCH TO FLOOR , SHOULDERS TO FLOOR. ALSO HER HER ARMS ARE OVER HER HEAD AND HANDS CLASPED BEHIND HER HEAD . THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.